Among the relatively small amount of bets on UMBC to beat Virginia, his was the largest, which means he made the most money on the historic win Friday night.

Eric Barger bet $800 at The Venetian in Las Vegas that the Retrievers would beat the Cavaliers, even though No. 16 seeds had gone 0-for-135 against No. 1 seeds in the men's tournament.

"I go with my boys to Vegas every tournament, and we did pretty well on Thursday," Barger said. "Me and my buddy Dan went to UMBC, so we spent all day talking up how much we were going to bet."

UMBC alum Eric Barger and his seven friends each contributed $100 to a money-line bet on the Retrievers against No. 1 Virginia. The historic upset yielded a $16,000 profit for the group, who plan to wager "at least a couple hundred" on Sunday's game. Eric Barger

The $800 was arrived at after the traveling group of eight men put in $100 each.

"We, of course, thought we were throwing our money down the drain," said Barger, 42, who works for an airline company in Washington, D.C. "We expected to be down pretty quickly, but we hung in there, and they won by 20. It was surreal."